Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – Four of the best NTT IndyCar Series drivers this season will have excellent starting positions for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca as they’ll start in the top-six. Defending series champion Scott Dixon leads the group as he’ll start alongside pole sitter Colton Herta. Considered the long shot out of the group, Dixon trails points leader Josef Newgarden by 85 points. After qualifying, Dixon felt his No. 9 PNC Bank Honda has gradually improved. Notably, finding a wayRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – Felix Rosenqvist being justifiably upset was an understatement at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. After being the fastest man during Saturday’s final practice, the NTT IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year points leader faced a controversial penalty in Group 2 of qualifying. Rosenqvist’s No. 10 NTT Data Honda was given a penalty which resulted his two fastest laps that would’ve advance him into the next round revoked due to causing a local yellow and impeding another competitor’s lap. As a result, he would haveRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – Felix Rosenqvist will head into the final qualifying session Saturday afternoon with tremendous optimism after setting the fastest time of final practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The NTT IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year points leader set a time of 1:10.4065, beating the Team Penske trio of Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud as the last 45-minute session was chaotic. Although no stoppages occurred, several drivers struggled finding the perfect lap at the 2.238-mileRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced Saturday that Takuma Sato will stay with the team in 2020. Sato’s 2019 season has no doubt been his strongest of his 10-year NTT IndyCar Series career, scoring wins at Barber Motorsports Park and World Wide Technology Raceway, the most he’s won in a season. In addition to his victories, he has two more podiums to his name and led the field to the green flag twice at Barber and Texas Motor Speedway, which has played an intricateRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – In the closing minutes of Friday afternoon’s practice, Ryan Hunter-Reay maximized his red compound Firestone tires to set a scorching time of 1:09.9105, putting him on top of the board at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Hunter-Reay dethroned rookie points leader Felix Rosenqvist by 0.0200 seconds and when comparing his No. 28 DHL Honda after Thursday’s two test sessions, Hunter-Reay felt better about it but his concern shifted towards the tricky nature of the 2.238-mile circuit. His goal is to avoid making any mistakesRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – The three NTT IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year title contenders swept Friday morning’s practice charts at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with Colton Herta being both fastest and snake bitten by “The Corkscrew” to close out the 45-minute session. Herta’s time of 1:10.7335 was just 0.0719 seconds faster than rookie points leader Felix Rosenqvist. Santino Ferrucci rounds out the top-three as he was 0.1502 seconds behind. In the closing seconds of practice, Herta’s rear of his No. 88 Capstone Turbine Corporation Honda lockedRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – From second fastest in Thursday morning’s two-hour testing session to fastest in the four-hour afternoon session, 19-year-old Colton Herta once again got people noticing his raw talent. This time being at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca where he set the top overall time of 1:10.0720, out performing Will Power by 0.4663 seconds. The rookie felt he was able to get a proper feel on the Firestone tires which was his goal in the combined six-hour session. “It means a lot. We’re all trying to goRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – For the second straight year, Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay could play a major role on the NTT IndyCar Series championship despite being seventh in points. That’s because his teammate Alexander Rossi is one of four drivers competing for the championship in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Last year at Sonoma Raceway, Rossi lost the title battle while Hunter-Reay finally captured that elusive victory. It proved to be a huge deal for Hunter-Reay coming out of “Wine Country”Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Nothing will be different for Alexander Rossi, heading into a vital 67th career NTT IndyCar Series start at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Rossi has a pivotal task at hand and that’s overcoming a 41-point deficit and dethrone fellow American Josef Newgarden to become the new champion. What Rossi can’t afford is have another finale fiasco like he endured a year ago on the opening lap at Sonoma when he ran into the back of Marco Andretti, costing him dearly as Scott Dixon, who had the betterRead More